15 April 2012
(part two of the prologue, the rest of the story to come soon!)
Viktoria looked just like me. We had the same dark blonde hair and the same keen, green eyes. Where I had a high jaw bone and a solid face she had soft, pretty features. Viktoria was my best friend and she went through the same treatment as I did. We suffered together and right now I loved my sister. We were both strong which is the only reason we had managed to survive for so long. My sister was training to be a police officer and was deceptively strong. “Kellan, we have to move! Listen to what I tell you to do; we’re both leaving right now!” We darted to the kitchen and locked the door. I began breathing deeply trying to recover some air. Viktoria burst open all cupboards bringing out plastic bottles and containers of various sizes and colors. She was going to save us. My sister was a witch. She has been secretly practicing since the end of the Great War in case she would ever need to protect herself. “Turn off the lights!” She hissed. I flicked the switch and the light disappeared. Viktoria clicked her fingers and a small orange flame danced at her fingertips. I walked to her side in the flickering light, mesmerized by her fire. Her keen green eyes were now watery and luminous. “Kellan, you’re my brother and I’m going to protect you. I don’t know what will happen to us and I may never see you again, but I will help you before I leave. The best thing I can do for you is to change you, improve you. I’m going to make you better but you have to trust me okay?” My big sister Viktoria was now Viktoria the witch. “I’ll let you make me better,” I breathed. “Good boy,” she sighed. “She instructed me to strip to my underwear and I did. Her eyes settled on my collection of scars across my body and I saw a flicker of rage in her eyes but then calm. Her voice deepened as she mumbled a string of words I could not understand. I felt a breeze in the room, blowing through my hair and giving me chills. I sat there watching her, scared and shivering from this strange wind. “Open the door right now or I’ll skin you alive! Schweins!” I jumped on the cold tiled kitchen floor, paralyzed. Mother was still there! Viktoria spoke directly to me with the emotion of a ghost. “I will draw the cross of freedom on your forehead and then every bone in your body will break. If you stay alive, I will have made you better. Goodbye brother.” I couldn’t move. I don’t think I was breathing. Was killing me how Viktoria was going to save me? And what was the cross of freedom? My head was spinning in fear and confusion yet I stood frozen. She spun the lid off a bottle and tilted my head back so I was staring directly at her fire. She poured the bottle down my throat. I spluttered and pushed the liquid away. It tasted stale and smelt fowl. “Kellan I am going to open your throat!” My heart was racing as Viktoria’s long cold fingers drew a shape on my forehead and I trembled in fear. “Please save me...”I begged. Then I felt it. My body was exploding and breaking up. I collapsed screaming so loud that I punctured a lung. Then I screamed some more. Every second the burning, exploding pain magnified. My scream deepened to a stream of shouts and feral snarls. I was literally breaking up. My face was burning as my jaw cracked. The bones in my arms and legs had snapped at awkward angles. My skin held all my broken bones in their transformation. My ribs were expanding and my body couldn’t take it. I roared a sound that only an animal could make but the torture continued. I was beyond begging, I just wanted this intense pain to end. Why won’t it end? Please stop, I can’t take it anymore! I plunged into unconsciousness...
Awaking The Animal #2 • Opuss № I